1957 International pickup truck

[bertvorgon]

Morning World!

I have a friend with this 1957 International truck. It has sat for some 2 years now and he wants to try to start it, so far no luck. He has asked me, in a few weeks, if I can pop down to Point Roberts and give him a hand to light it off.

He has tried cranking it but thinks it is not getting fuel, which we all know can be a variety of issues. In what little info I could find, it is right before the company went to 12 Volt systems, so is still 6 Volts, which could present a problem with cranking and running the battery down.

This will be a straight six I think?

I wonder if any of you vintage truck guys have some tips. I was going to get some starting fluid to help...after checking that it has spark. Would I be correct that this would have a most basic single barrel carb on it?

I have told him, if he can, to try to drain the crap gas that will be in the tank. I thought I might try to get a small jerry can with a hose to the carb to at least get us some fresh fuel in the starting process. 2 year old fuel is not going to be any good at all.

I will pop the fuel line off at the carb to see if the pump is pumping at all. Could be any number of issues with a plugged fuel filter, plugged fuel tank...or.....

will check points I guess too...it was running when parked so I don't really think I need to mess with them.

any ideas, thought would be appreciated.

thanks.

[RMS]

points will fuzz and do it quick if not parked on concrete, give em a rub, wipe cap and inspect plugs, bit of blow torch action will do( some dizzys have a oil port for the top bush a few drips off the dip stick onto the felt or past the flapper cap is a good idea . 12 on 6 will spin it faster but leave the coil on 6.(verify weather neg to ground or pos to ground) fuel pump should have a glass bowl that will show you its colour and if its flowing. drain sediment from bowl and carb if equipped with drain ..... drain tank if anything other than 94..... but compression is low so if its 86 and a bit brown and whiffy it should still run once warm. plumb outlet from pump into jerry can. use a funnel and a bit of hose to gravity feed carb with fresh juce. a bit of E will work but first try tipping in propane from the unlit torch. check that the choke cable is working and returning to full open.

[RMS]

if it makes funny sounds like ticking or knocking you may find something like I did on a 251 Chrysler last week

IMG_2729.jpg (90.84 KiB) Viewed 2416 times

IMG_2729.jpg (90.84 KiB) Viewed 2416 times

[bertvorgon]

Thanks Robyn, I hoped you would chime in! This is Tim's truck.

Not sure what you mean by...start with 12 Volts...but....leave coil on 6.....don't want to kill or fry anything either.

[RMS]

disconnect and isolate lead @ starter and jump it with 12v.. often on the dodges we run a 6volt starter on 12v or 12v on 24v. cranks much faster giving a stronger vacuum signal to get the fuel in the holes. have yet to burn out a starter on double the juice.

[RMS]

since were on old trucks... is there a machinist in the house ? I dont have the funds to do it right and send it out but it would be nice to get someone over to check my work. in an ideal world I would bore to .060 over but as I already have pistons and rings that seam right all I need is a hone job.

I was looking at ball hones on amazon for less than $50 but it would be nice to have a boring bar and do it with long stones.. also I don't know what grit of ball hone to get 120, 180 ? then once its cleaned up will the gap be too big?

the block is a t249 @ .020 over on the 3 7/16 bore. I have NOS .020 over pistons rings and pins. Brush Research lists a 3 1/4 and a 3 1/2 and im in the middle @ 3 7/16th....

[RMS]

well I did more measuring: took the top ring off no2 slid it in the the bore, got it square with a new piston the end gap read 0.55.
slid in a new ring and it measured .027. got out the book and it said .010 to 0.20

[RMS]

well I tossed specs to the wind and slapped it back together replacing the broken pistons. it ran fine around the yard but not something I am willing to sell. so I was off to the island and picked up three flattys for more kicks at the can.